The invention relates to a process for suspension control on vehicles, in which the reference damping force (reference value) for at least one adjustable damper with flow-resistance-damped piston is calculated from at least one status variable and used for actuating the damper.
Conventional suspensions have a so-called passive damping system, which means that a damper is connected parallel to the respectively present spring arrangement of a wheel and has, for example, a liquid-damped piston. An expulsion of liquid occurs by means of tensile or compressive forces. In this case, the liquid passes through a through-flow cross-section.
In a so-called semiactive suspension control, dampers are used which have a cylinder which is divided by a piston into two working spaces. A through-flow cross-section which can be controlled from outside is provided for the pressure medium which can be expelled by the piston, so that the damping properties (degrees of damping) can be adjusted. Depending on the vehicle state, the actual damping force is matched to the current conditions by means of a control system by rapidly adjusting the through-flow cross-section. In this way an improvement of the comfort and of the driving safety of a vehicle can be achieved.
It is known to construct a vehicle control according to the Karnopp control concept and to operate it with a semiactive special damper. In the Karnopp control concept, the damping force is adjusted proportionally to an absolute body speed. This so-called absolute body speed is defined between an inertial system (fixed, independent system) and a point on the body of the vehicle. The aforesaid special damper has electrically adjustable pressure control valves by means of which a reference damping force, which is preset by the control circuit, can be fed directly to the damper in order to adjust it. However, special dampers of this kind are very costly.